Group A preview
Mexico: This is a huge tournament for Mexico as they’re one of the hosts for the competition kicking the entire thing off on Thursday 11th June against South Africa in Mexico City which is sure to be one of the best atmospheres we’ll see all tournament, they got grouped in the last Copa America in 2024 which was a huge disappointment but they followed that up by winning the CONCACAF Gold Cup last year beating the USA in the final so there’s a lot of expectation on Mexico this time around when they’re are playing matches at home following winning that trophy. The Mexican manager Javier Aguirre has picked an experienced squad with the likes of Raul Jimenez, Santiago Gimenez, Edson Alvarez all getting the call up along with Guillermo Ochoa who is yet again in a World Cup squad for Mexico, I definitely expect Mexico to qualify from this group as it’s quite an open group with all teams around the same sort of quality in my opinion, the question will be whether Mexico can go any further than the Round of 32 or 16? As one of the home nations they should be aiming for at least in and around the knockouts in my opinion, I suppose we’ll wait and see.
Player to watch: Alexis Vega
South Africa: We all remember the World Cup in 2010 when South Africa hosted the first World Cup held in Africa since the tournament was created putting on a brilliant show that saw Spain win the trophy in extra-time, since then South Africa haven’t qualified for a World Cup until now which sees most people putting them at the bottom of the group in their predictions. I’m not going to sit here and pretend I’m an expert in South African football but one thing I remember from the Club World Cup last year was that I was impressed with the Mamelodi Sundowns in that competition despite going out in the group stages giving Dortmund a run for their money in one of the games of the competition, there are 8 Sundowns players in the South African squad so I’m excited to see if they bring that same kind of attacking football to this World Cup. The most known South African player in the squad is probably Lyle Foster who played in the Premier League for Burnley this season but other than that you probably won’t know any others in the squad, although they are the underdogs in this group they’ll give the other teams a good game I’m sure.
Player to watch: Lyle Foster
South Korea: South Korea head into this tournament led yet again by Heung-Min Son who whilst past his best still has plenty to offer to his country in what’s likely to be his final World Cup, in terms of the supporting cast you’ve got the likes of Hwang-Hee Chan, Kang-In Lee and Kim-Min Jae who all provide their trade in the top leagues around Europe so you would expect South Korea to make it out of the group at the very least. They went unbeaten in qualifying for the competition but have suffered a few losses in the friendlies leading up to the tournament against the like of Ivory Coast and Austria so there are a few worries pre-tournament for the manager, I don’t see South Korea going far in this World Cup but I do expect them to make it out of the group in 2nd or as one of the best 3rd place teams in the group.
Player to Watch: Kang-In Lee
Czech Republic: It kind of pains me to write a preview on Czech Republic seeing as they knocked my country out in World Cup qualifying a few months ago but without sounding bitter I wasn’t at all impressed with Czech Republic in the game against Ireland where they looked shot to pieces at 0-2 before an idiotic mistake by Ryan Manning allowed them back into the game which they won on penalties in the end, they rely mostly on their aerial dominance which has caused many teams problems over the last few years but if you can deal with their threat in the air I think you can get at this Czech side in their current iteration. Patrick Schick is their biggest threat amongst others like Tomas Soucek, Ladislav Krejci who both got relegated this year from the Premier League with their respective teams, again I don’t see Czech Republic going far in this World Cup but I do see them making it out of the group in one way or another.
Player to watch: Pavel Sulc
Prediction for the group:
Mexico
2. South Korea
3. Czech Republic
4. South Africa